Wire-splicer



(No Moaemf' I J. T. SMITH 86 O. T. LUCAS.

WIRE SPLICER.

N6. 467,646. Patented D66. 6, 1892.

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1NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES THOMAS SMITH AND OLEVER TOMPSON LUCAS, OF SHAW, KANSAS.

WIRE-SPLICER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,646, dated December 6, 1892. Application iiled March 16, 1892. Serial No. 425,184. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it; known that we, JAMES THOMAS SMITH and OLEVER TOMPSON LUOAs,citizens of the United States, residing at Shaw, in the county of Neosho and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Wire-Splicer, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to a device for splicing wire; and it consists of the construction and arrangement of the parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claim.

The object of this invention is to providea device of this character which may be readily employed for other uses, and when used as a wire-splicer it facilitates the connection of opposite ends of a wire strand in an easy and simple manner, forming a durable and strong connection.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of the improved device shown in position for splicing wire. Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the device shown disconnected from a wire strand.

Referring to the drawings, A A represent handles having headsB curved or bent to form pinchers or tongs,as may be desired, the said arms being pivotally connected, as at C. The said heads are formed with shoulders E to limit the outward movement of the said handle and opening of said heads orjaws B. The handles A are split from their ends to near the point where they are pivotally connected, thereby forming clamping-jaws, whose lower ends are provided with clamping-screws F, extending through the lower ends of said split handles from opposite sides thereof. The inner opposing faces of the said handles A, at the lower portion of the two parts of each of said handles, are roughened or milled to thereby provide gripping-surfaces. By operating the clamping-screws F the said clam ping-jaws formed by the split handles A may be opened or tightened, as desired.

As a wire-splicer the device is used as follows: The right-handclamping-jaw, as shown in Fig. 1, is fitted over a wire strand and clamped thereagainst to prevent the same from turning. The opposite clamping-jaw is fitted over a loop connected to a similar loop in the end of an adjacent strand of wire, the

end of the said loop held by said last-named clamping-jaw being extended up between the clamping-jaws. To complete the splice, the said free end of the loop is twisted around the strand between the two clamping-jaws formed by the handles A and the two parts of the Wire thereby firmly connected. The said clamping-jaws are then released from the Wire and slipped off from the same, when the device can be used as apairof pinchers or tongs, as the case may be.

When the device is employed for wire-splicing purposes, it is held in upright position, as shown in Fig. l, and the split handles are employed to hold the end of the wire stationary while the splicing operation is being accomplished. The device is clamped against an end of one wire only, slightly in rear of the terminating end of said wire, so that said terminating end may be connected to the wire with which the splice is to be formed and then bent back and upward, as shown in said Fig. 1. In completing the formation of the splice a suitable tool will be employed, and the utility of the device resides in the firmness and rigidity by which the wire may be held during the operation of splicing and also the convenience of application of the same to the wire.

The advantage and utility of this invention is manifold, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and need not be further enlarged upon herein.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new is- The herein-described device, consisting of two handles which are pivotally connected, each of which at one end has a head curved or bent and combined to form a pair of pinchers and the opposite ends of the same constructed as Split handles, and a clampingscrew ext-ending through the split portion of each of said handles from opposite sides of the same, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES THOMAS SMITH. OLEVER TOMPSON LUCAS. Witnesses:

' JOHN A. HOFFMAN,

, J. N. LIGGETT. 

